Ayako Itou
Ayako Itou is one of 26 students in Doubt Academy 3: Alpha, possessing the title of Super High-School Level Visual Novel Artist. She is the first victim of Doubt Academy Alpha, killed by blunt force to the head. Her murderer isn't identified until the third chapter, however. During the ending of the game, her data is uploaded into a human clone, and she escapes Gaia with the rest of her class. Appearance Ayako's most obvious traits are the bright colors she presents herself with, from her turquoise hair to her orange blouse; despite this, her eyes are a rather plain brown. Her hair is naturally wavy and is usually tied in a ponytail, adorned with a flower barrette. She tends to dress warmly, going as far as layering over a long-sleeved black shirt; as noted when investigating her room, she prefers a mix of warm and neutral colors. She wears a light grey skirt over black leggings and finishes off with simple sandals. A few scars are visible on Ayako's body in her default outfit, such as some faded brown marks on the backs of her calves. Her left ankle has circular scars from a bad reaction to multiple hornet stings. Personality Before the Game of Mutual Killing, Ayako was a generally cheerful person who wanted to devote her time to helping other people. She felt some pain of loneliness and self-loathing, but it was easier for her to brush it off, so long as certain topics never came up. Ayako was shy with face-to-face interaction and more outgoing through written or typed words, and had things gone differently, she would have become more confident with others once she became familiar with them. The game, unfortunately, brought out her worst traits quickly thanks to constant verbal and physical attacks from people and the threat of death that followed Monobear's appearance, culminating in her panicked attempt to defend herself from who she believed was a murderer, which instead resulted in her own death and the mistrial in Chapter 1. The negative emotions boiled over for the next few weeks: Ayako became hostile to people who (supposedly) wanted to comfort her, she willingly isolated herself to avoid confrontations, and she returned to old, unhealthy ways of coping with stress. It's stated that this was similar to the personality Ayako had several years prior to the game. As time went on, Ayako began to calm down, although her psychological state never quite recovered. She grew bitter and cynical concerning the morals of the living, yet still worked herself to the bone trying to give them information they could use. She shed her timidness and became more comfortable around other people -- unfortunately, her ability to trust others was heavily damaged by the events of the ending, destroying the progress she had made. Ayako returned to how she was in the beginning: Putting up a facade of cheer around her many friends in order to hide just how much she was disgusted with herself. Background Ayako has always enjoyed doing illustrations even as a young child, thanks to the influences of her grandfather who paints in his free time, but what she lacked was the drive to actually put her talent to use. In her adolescence, she began joining projects online by providing artwork for other people’s ideas for little to no pay; while she specialized in people, she was also very good with scenery, and this made her desirable for those who needed both assets. Her big break came when she did the artwork for one route in the visual novel Forest Class, as well as most of the backgrounds for the entire game. Forest Class had a strongly positive response despite being a short and free game, and soon Ayako found herself being hired for one VN after another, this time for actual money. Games with her name attached seem to always do well – does she have a good eye for high-quality stories and accept only those, or does she just have a magic touch? Skills Skill #1 : {collaboration} Ayako has a lot of experience with group projects, as she must frequently communicate with her team in order to make sure everything is put together smoothly and according to plan. She tends to be a passive person, listening for directions and following them rather than taking charge. That said, she also voices her own opinions and criticism, giving feedback about the writing, the character design, the gameplay mechanics, or the working pace. Being on a team has also trained Ayako to hold her tongue when she feels slighted, for the sake of unity. Still, as she is mostly used to working online due to being busy with school for most of the year, her teamwork has some rough points when applying it face-to-face. Even in stressful situations, though, she will try to keep discussion open when it comes to making every plan fit together, rather than simply stick with the first idea that’s thrown out there. Skill #2 : {nimble fingers} Though she is a fan of loose and casual styles, Ayako does not mindlessly scribble onto a canvas, at least not on her final drafts. When the time comes for her to layer on details, whether it’s for her soft, dreamlike backgrounds or for the crisp linework of her characters, she is mindful of each stroke she makes – how long they are, how hard she presses down, and how much they curve. Her hands are used to moving with deft precision, and this skill can be adapted to other situations, especially those involving very small sizes. For example, she could assemble or disassemble an object that parts just a few inches big, assuming that she had a good idea of how the object was put together; she isn’t a mechanical genius just because she can use her hands well, but with direction she could insert a tiny, fragile piece where needs to be, or disentangle a mess of strings and knots. Doubt Academy 3: Alpha Just a week into the game, Ayako was found dead in the Main Square, becoming the first to be killed by another student. The official cause of death was blunt force trauma, narrowed down in investigations to be a severe head wound resulted from smashing her head against some rubble. However, the culprit behind her murder could not be determined, and Yuuto Ikeda was wrongfully convicted and executed. Emiko Shiromura was suspected by a significant portion of the class to have been Ayako's killer; indeed, when Emiko herself was found dead in the third chapter, a note found on her person confessed to her role in the deaths of Ayako and by extension Yuuto. However, Emiko argues that she acted in self-defense, revealing that it was Ayako who attacked her first. As Ayako expressed constantly in the Isolation Ward and her first appearance in Tartarus, she agreed with this assessment and blamed herself alone for her own death and the fallout from it, no matter how many people told her not to. Relationships Due to her dying very early into the game, Ayako has the strongest bonds with other students who died, especially those who died within the first few weeks of the game. Her closest companions are Yuuto Ikeda, Lee Badens, Mitsu Higashi, and, oddly enough, Emiko Shiromura; empathy played a huge role in their reconciliation and with Ayako's other relationships, as she reacted very strongly to anyone who seemed to be abandoned by everyone to drown in their suffering. Notably, from about mid-game onwards, Ayako began to harbor resentment towards the living Gaia students over both their acts of abuse towards each other and the mistrials that kept killing and maiming innocents. She particularly despised Kozure Fierro (for brutally murdering Emiko and letting Nanoka be punished in his place) and Shun Hikeshi (for physically threatening/assaulting several people). The only major exception to her disgust with the living was Kosuke Aozora ( and possibly Saori, but remains to be seen); Ayako initially hated him for being one of the people who voted to execute the innocent Mitsu, but upon encountering him in Tartarus, she unloaded all of her desperation onto him and begged him to do all he could to end the killings, forgiving him for his role in Mitsu's death. In spite of how little she cared for those still alive, she still wanted them to escape with their lives. Ayako began dating Yuuto shortly after Arcadia became accessible to the students, but after he was revealed to be one of the Masterminds, they drifted apart. Post-cloning, they chose to live together despite the uncertainties that faced not only how safe they would be, but also if they could ever have a happy and healthy relationship again. Trivia * Her birthday is March 3rd, sharing this date with Wakana Fujiwara from DA3: Omega. She is a Pisces, and her blood type is AB-. * Ayako is a natural brunette. Photos found in her room suggest that she dyed her hair sometime in the past few years, between the end of middle school and her acceptance into Hope's Peak. During the ending, she's depicted with brown hair, though there's a brief line showing she intends to dye it again. * Ayako has a younger sister named Hanako. Their relationship is a bit strained, as Hanako is under pressure to take her hobbies and revolve her whole life around them so that she too can become a SHSL student. ** Hanako's name is a two-fold reference: To Hanako Ikezawa of the VN Katawa Shoujo (frequently referenced in Ayako's post titles), and to the indie game company'' ''Hanako Games, which made several visual novels. * Some of Ayako's relatives have the same name as characters in DA3. Her paternal grandfather, the one that taught her to draw, is named Takumi (similar to Takumi Yoshirou from DA3: Alpha), and his wife is named Riko (similar to Riko Mieko from DA3: Omega). Her maternal grandfather was named Daisuke (similar to Daisuke Techou from DA3: Omega). * She works best in digital media, but she is also good with pencils, inks, and especially watercolors. * She likes watercolors, beaches, and korokke, but dislikes hornets (because of her encounter with them), chalk (because of the textures), and bodice rippers (because of the storylines they often have). Category:Characters Category:Doubt Academy 3: Alpha Category:Deceased Category:Victims Category:Female Students Category:Revived